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Top US envoy tours North Korea's Yongbyon reactor

The top US nuclear negotiator for North Korea has visited its reactor, becoming the highest-level US official to go there, an official said yesterday, amid progress in efforts to rid the country of nuclear programs.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made the visit to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, north of Pyongyang, on Monday afternoon, said Max Kwak, a spokesman for the US embassy in Seoul.

Kwak said Hill would meet North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan yesterday.

He gave no more details, including Hill's reaction to the ongoing work to disable the plutonium-producing reactor being conducted under a six-nation agreement.

Yesterday, Hill met North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, the North's Korean central news agency reported in a brief dispatch.

Hill also toured Pyongyang and rode a subway together with other members of his delegation, including Sung Kim, the State Department's top Korea specialist.

His visit to Yongbyon made him the highest-level US official to visit the complex, the US embassy in Seoul said.

The compound is at the heart of North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons that culminated in its first-ever nuclear test explosion in October last year.

North Korea began disabling the reactor, which was shut down in July and two other facilities last month under the watch of US experts.

The disablement is the biggest step Pyongyang has taken to scale back its nuclear programs.

Under the six-nation agreement, North Korea is to receive energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return.
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